Pacers Report Cards: Grading every Pacers player at season's end
By Mueez Azfar
Pascal Siakam
Stats with IND: 41 Games, 31.8 MPG, 21.3 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 3.7 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.4 BPG, 1.4 TOV, 2.6 FPG 55/38.6/70 Splits on 60.2% TS
When Indiana traded for Pascal Siakam on January 17, they did it in hopes of getting a secondary scorer to take the pressure off Tyrese Haliburton as well as a fantastic defender and rebounder who could essentially "do it all" at a high level. What they got was exactly that and arguably more.
Ever since touching down in Indiana, Siakam has been nothing short of fantastic, fitting into the offense like a glove alongside Haliburton and giving Indiana an extra boost with Tyrese as well as taking on the role of the main guy whenever Haliburton struggled through injury or sat out games.
Despite the scoring and defense, by far the most impressive part about Siakam's Indiana tenure is his long-distance shooting. Not known as a big-time three-point shooter, with his best percentage coming in 2019 at 37%, Siakam has been fantastic from deep with Indiana, shooting a career-high 38.6% on 2.5 attempts per game.
A lot of this is due to the improved spacing in Indiana compared to Toronto and the newfound gravity brought by Haliburton. Plenty of times, Siakam finds himself open in the corner where he has no reason to hold back, taking a wide-open three and making a good amount of them.
Of course, Siakam has also done wonders for Indiana's defense, as he improved the Pacers' defensive rating by two points and decreased the opponent's two-point and three-point percentage by one point each. Indiana's net rating also improves by a point with Siakam on the floor compared to him off it.
Siakam's arrival should also work wonders in the playoffs. With the Pacers being a relatively young team with little to no playoff experience, Siakam provides that veteran leadership that Indiana desperately needs at times to give them confidence in the big moments. Additionally, with Haliburton being more inconsistent and targeted by defense even more due to his newfound stardom, Siakam is the perfect player to have alongside him to take the pressure off in those big moments.
So far, Pascal Siakam's tenure with Indiana has been a resounding success, and we are only 41 games in. Provided he signs a new contract, which he most likely will, this may very well be the start of a long and fruitful pairing.